Neo's revenge
by Shadowsouls0
Summary: Chronicling the adventures of Neopolitan and Roman Torchwick. From how they met, how Neo grew up, all the way until volume 3. Watch as the young, innocent girl named Neo transforms, changed by the world, and by Roman himself. A tale of family, friendship, betrayal, revenge, and something the little girl named Neo would soon come to understand, thanks to a teacher and a crook. Love.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Hello , and welcome to my first story. I won't take up too much of your time with the note, but I will give a brief rundown of what you're about to experience. This story takes place from before the series starts (fifteen years back in fact, since I'm just assuming Neo's 21) until… well, I haven't actually thought that far out yet. It tells not only Neo's origins but her path and drive to avenge her friend… you guessed it, Roman Torchwick. Without further ado, let us begin…**

Chapter 1: New name, new start

Some people always had a hopeful outlook on life. One where, at the end of the day, the sun was always shining, the birds were always singing, and life was a big bowl of cherries.

The girl in the alley, was not one of those people.

She didn't know why she was in the alley, it was just all she knew. To her, it was like trying to explain how she sneezed, she knew she did it, but she had no clue _how_ she did it, or why. Was she abandoned as a child? Where her parents murdered and her a not-so-lucky survivor? Was she abducted by aliens and placed here? As unlikely as any of these scenarios may be, to the girl in the alley, none of it mattered. She trudged along, one day at a time, her feet dragging in the knee-deep muck and grime that always seemed to occupy her little home. Her pink and brown hair was matted together with the same grime that made her skin crawl, and her clothes, if she could call them that, scratch and cling to her like an angry grimm.

Her eyes were always brown, even though she knew she could change them if she tried. They changed with her mood, and her mood was almost always sad, tired, or defeated. Her clothes themselves were really just a stiff, scratchy brown material that, although she didn't know it, was actually what had once been a burlap sack. To this girl, shoes, pants, socks, even underwear, none of them existed. The only clothing she had was the sack she'd macgyvered into clothes. The small rope around her thin waist was really the only thing keeping the sack on her frail body. If anyone were to remove the sack, they'd find that they could easily count the poor girl's ribs. This girl had nothing, nothing but the rope around her waist and the sack she used for clothing. Nothing, not even a name.

The girl had never known what her name was, only that she once had a guardian angel in a way, one that protected her, if only till she could walk and fend for herself. She never _saw_ this angel per-say, but rather, felt their presence in the bits and scraps she found. When she was young she'd fall asleep in a soiled diaper and wake up in a somewhat fresh one. Though, that angel had apparently flown away, since the girl had just been getting worse and worse. You'd think that she'd get some sympathy from passers by, maybe even from the other homeless that wandered the streets. Well, it was actually quite the opposite. The bruises on her arms and legs didn't get there on their own. Among the homeless and outcasts of Vale, those that were just trying to get by, most of them faunus, there was a group that everyone knew and feared. Their name, was the Tough Guys.

They weren't original with their name, but no-one really cared. They came up to homeless people, stealing whatever money, food, sometimes even clothes they had. They'd usually beat them up for good measure, and the poor girl in the alley was no exception. She'd suffered countless beatings, but they'd been smart, so very smart in how they played their horrid game. They'd beat her up, but never enough that she couldn't heal on her own. They'd bruise her, but never cut her. They were smart, sadistic, and just downright despicable to many. To the girl though, they seemed especially cruel. Maybe they found her an easy target, maybe kids could make more money by begging, or maybe they thought she was weird for her looks. She didn't know, and she didn't care. She learned a quick set of rules for how to survive in the horrible little place she had to call home.

First, eat any food that came by her, and eat it _fast._ Otherwise the rats or the Tough Guys would get it. Two, sleep in high places, like the vents, where the Tough Guys wouldn't think to look. Three, be a light sleeper, so that if they showed up, she could just run, or hide. Lastly, know when to give up. She'd become good at determining when she should run, when she should fight, and when she should give in. That fight or flight response was her lifeline on the street. She lived like a coward, constantly in fear of what was coming, and constantly wanting to do something, but too afraid. She craved a better life, she craved more food in her belly, she craved anything, _anything_ but what she already had.

So she was shocked when a beating from the Tough Guys turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to her.

Roman Torchwick was a young criminal, barely known on the streets, still doing odd jobs for some of the more well-known bosses around town, maybe sticking up a convenience store once in awhile. He had his go to weapon, his cane, on hand at all times, ready for a brawl at the drop of a hat, his bowler one more specifically. He was walking around the dingy part of the city, spinning around his cane as he looked around. " _This place is always dirty. Why am I here again?_ " he thought to himself. The answer, he didn't really know. Normally his walks back to his hideaway consisted of a stroll through a more wealthy neighborhood, a nice little walk where he could make some spare change fishing wallets out of pockets. "How stupid can you be to carry so much lien on you?" he muttered with a sly grin before reaching into his black overcoat pocket, pulling out a wallet he'd just pilfered. The contents of which were surprisingly valuable to the young thief. Almost five-hundred lien.

Meanwhile, just a few blocks from Roman, was the little girl in the alley, cornered against the wall by a group of thugs, the Tough Guys logo, which was just a flexed bicep with a T on it, tattooed on their shoulders. "Come on little girl, just give us the goods and make this easy on yourself." one of them said, a sly grin painted on his face as he reached for the moldy loaf of bread the girl was holding. The girl jumped back, pressing herself against the wall as she hugged the loaf to herself, her body suddenly seized with shaking from the fear of defying the three thugs. Now, normally she'd have given in, but as the girl hadn't eaten in so long, her instincts had started to take over. The two on the sides walked forwards, their faces masked in shadows. To the girls though, they were the masks of monsters. "Well well, looks like our little girl decided to fight back. Hehe, teach her a lesson boys." the one in the back said, snapping as the shadow-masked men smirked, grabbing their weapons of choice from their backs. Those weapons of choice? Crowbars.

The girl didn't wait, dashing towards the one in the center without hesitation, her only thoughts on escape. "No ya don't!" the one on the left said, swinging his crowbar around. The girl only knew a sudden sense of breathlessness, her eyes widening as her momentum was suddenly stopped dead in it's tracks, her lower half flying up as the crowbar sent her neck rocketing into the trash pile beneath her. She tried to speak, but only a hoarse whimper came out. She tried to breath, but felt only an excruciating burn down the back of her throat. Once again, she'd had something taken from her. This time, it was her voice. She tried to stand on shaky limbs, but a quick boot to the side sent her sprawling back to the ground, her arms unconsciously wrapping around her aching midriff. "Don't sleep now girly. The fun's just gettin' started." the one that seemed to be leader said as he grabbed his own tool of choice. A small jug, with a name the girl couldn't read. To the man though, he could tell it said 'Bleach'.

The thug walked up to her, smirking as he gripped around her neck, hoisting her up and slamming her back against the wall, a small cry of pain coming from the girl. The two thugs on the side smirked, "You whitin' her out boss?" they asked at once, both of their smirks getting wider. The 'boss' nodded, "Oh yeah. Let's see how you like bein' albino." he said before he uncapped the jug, turning it over as a small bit poured onto the girl's head. "OOF!" the man said as he swung his jug of bleach back, a bit of pain in his stomach from the girls kick. He scowled when he saw that his bleach, the way to identify the fighters, had simply gotten a few strands of her hair. He set the girl down, rearing back his left leg, "Let's see you do that again." he said as he swung his leg forward. Unfortunately, her desperate kick had taken almost all the fight out of the girl, so she just sat there, motionless, as the tip of his boot made contact with her sternum.

From in front of the alley, Roman heard the commotion, " _Another homeless beat down. Not my problem._ " he thought, at least, before he actually saw who they were beating down. "STOP!" the word carried through the alley, causing everyone to turn towards the source, surprised. Roman more than anyone, as he found the voice that had called was his own. "The heck you doin' here?" the leader said, flicking out a switchblade. Roman found himself speaking, not even by his consent, a strange new emotion engulfing him. "Why are you hurting this defenseless girl!?" he yelled. The other man scowled at Roman, "None of your business. Get off our turf, or you gonna get hurt _real_ bad." the thug said, flicking his switchblade. At this point, Roman found that he actually could control himself. He could've left it alone, let the girl deal with her own problems.

"GAH!" the lead thug said as he was pelted into the nearby wall, Roman's cane on the back of his head. " _Of all the days to take up chivalry…_ " he thought to himself was he flipped the cane around, firing the hook end towards one of the stunned thugs, hooking around his neck. The thug was sent flying at Roman, but rather then hit the idiot, he simply stepped aside, allowing the man to fly back onto the street. He spun his cane around, a cockney smirk on his face as he aimed his cane at the last thug. "Your move punk." he said. The thug didn't hesitate, turning around to run, only to run face-first into a wall. "Didn't think that through…" the thug groaned before peeling off the wall, falling into the nearby pile of trash.

Roman walked up to the girl, her noiselessly coughing into her hand, tears stinging her eyes. "Hey, kid." he said, setting his cane back on the ground. The girl looked up, her wide brown eyes fearful of the man. She tried to stand, but only fell back onto her rear. She settled for scooting back with her hands, back against the wall. "Calm down, I won't hurt you. These men aren't a threat. Though I'd suggest finding a new alley." he said, looking distastefully at the unconscious figures. The girl looked around, reaching her hand up and grabbing onto a nearby trashcan, pulling herself upright. She looked around, finding that what the mysterious stranger had said was true. Then, she did something she'd only done once or twice in her life.

She smiled.

She shakily walked over to the man, the top of her head only reaching up to his mid-thigh, and wrapped her arms around his legs. " _Thank you._ " the girl thought, still having a hard time breathing, let alone speaking. For Roman, it was bittersweet. On one hand, he was being thanked by someone instead of cursed out by them for a change. On the other hand, this girl was rather dirty, and was probably getting it over his pants. "Heh, cute kid…" he muttered to himself as he moved down a hand, rubbing it over the girl's head. When he pulled his hand back, he found that he was dragging a few strands of her hair with it, them clinging to his clean hand. He looked down, finding that his normally clean hand was now covered in visible grime. He leaned down, taking a small sniff near the girl's head.

He pulled back, holding his nose. "Oh my- ,kid when was the last time you had a bath!?" he exclaimed, trying to wave away the offending stench with his other hand. The little girl just looked up to him, tilting her head slightly, blinking twice as, for the first time in a while, her left eye turned white, her right becoming pale pink. Roman shrugged, "Don't know what that is do you?" he asked. The girl shook her head, her locks brushing against the mans trousers. He sighed, reaching down and picking the girl up, her leaning against his black overcoat. " _Eh, the thing's old anyway._ " he thought. In truth, Roman _had_ been looking to get a new one, but just hadn't found the right look. As Roman was walking out towards the only exit of the alley, the lead thug stood up again, deciding to block the path. Instead of a switchblade though, he held only his bleach jug. "It may not be me, but someone takes out white targets!" he yelled as he threw the bleach.

Roman didn't even have to think, turning around and arching his back as he felt the cold splatter of the bleach on his back, a small bit of it even hitting against the nearby wall. He turned around, revealing the thug to be nowhere in sight. Roman sighed, " _This kid better be worth the trouble of losing my coat._ " he thought as he started walking forwards, looking down at the girl in his arms as he did so. For the first time, Roman noted how she looked. Her strands of pink, brown, and now white hair clinging to her skin, almost hiding her nearly hollow cheeks. There were bags under her eyes, sunken in from a combination of malnutrition, dehydration, and likely a lack of sleep. There were bruises almost everywhere on her body. Some new, some old, but they were all in places where it would hurt. Her arms and legs were both thin and scrawny, small enough that Roman could tell they wouldn't do any serious damage to anyone on their own. When Roman turned his attention back to her eyes, he found that they were drooping, her head leaning against his chest before they slowly slipped shut. "Sleep easy kid, I'll figure somethin' out soon." Roman muttered, that same, strange emotion filling him as he began the walk to his hideout.

After what was likely a thirty minute walk through the bad part of Vale, Roman finally arrived back at his hideaway. "Home sweet home." he said to no-one in particular as he looked up at the place. To the untrained eye, it looked like any other club in the city, run by a man that went by the name of Junior. And it was a club, but that wasn't _all_ it was. Above the club there were apartments, one of which belonged to Roman himself, one to the club's owner, and two others that were currently vacant, the last 'tenants' having moved out. Roman walked up the steps to the door, the bouncer lowering his sunglasses a bit in surprise, about to speak when Roman held a finger to his lips. "Shh." he said, smiling slightly. The man nodded, "Go on in, club's closed now, should be nice and quiet." he said. Roman gave him a curt nod in thanks, walking past as the man went back to his normal stance, his legs a bit spread with his hands cupped in each other.

Roman pushed open the large doors with his right hand. "Hey Roman. Weird, normally you'd announce your welcome. What's differ- wait who's the kid?" Junior asked. The man was dressed in a white longsleeve shirt, a black vest buttoned up over top of it, hiding the bottom half of his bright red tie. On his hands there were black gloves, one of them being removed as the man cleaned his glasses, likely nearly unable to comprehend what he was seeing. Roman Torchwick, the ambitious criminal with plans to rule the criminal underground, holding a sleeping child like he was a father? It just didn't add up to him. "Don't know. Some of those stupid Tough Guy goons were giving her a beat-down, so I got rid of them and she sort of fell asleep. Ruined my coat to." Roman said, turning around and pointing to the large white stain on the back of his coat.

Junior raised an eyebrow, "Why did you help her? You've walked past plenty of homeless beatdowns before." he said, scratching at the beginning of a chin-strap he had. Roman shrugged, looking down at the sleeping child, "I don't really know myself. I was about to walk past when I saw her and I… sort of lost it…" Roman said, his eyes filled with conflicting emotions. He'd walked past plenty of homeless beatings by the same gang. They'd been people younger than her, they'd been females, they'd been faunus, and every last one he'd just walked past. So why did he stop to help her?

Hei Xiong, or 'Junior' as everyone called him, could tell at a glance _exactly_ why Roman had helped the girl. Call it an old bartending talent, maybe from dealing with people like Roman for what was going on five years now, being as he was nearing his twenty-fifth birthday, but he _knew_. From the way Roman carried the kid, to the way he talked about her, even the way he looked at her. " _Bout time he found someone to care about, 'sides himself that is._ " he thought with a tired smile. Junior knew well enough the look a parent gives their child, after all, he'd done it to his own a hundred times before… everything happened. And right now, Roman Torchwick, the most ambitious thief in all of Remnant, had that look on his face. He had defended that girl, and no matter how much he may try and downplay it, he fought for her with a ferocity only a parent could know.

"What's her name?" Junior asked. Roman shrugged, "She fell asleep before I could ask. We'll see later. Right now I've got to go make a call." he said, a small shiver running up his spine. "Who exactly do you plan on calling?" Junior asked, walking over behind his bar and grabbing a dirty glass. Cleaning always did help him collect his thoughts. Roman turned away, walking towards the hidden staircase he knew led to the apartments above. "Someone that knows what they're doing." he said. Junior was left staring after the man in his bleach-stained coat. He chuckled, "Guess I need to get rid of that other apartment rental." he said as he set down the glass, reaching beneath his counter for his bottle of Mistralean wine, something he almost always used to wind down after a stressful day's work.

Roman walked up the stairs, pushing open the door to the apartments as he always did, smiling a bit at the sight. There were four doors in the hall, each of them with different numbers on them. 007, his own, was at the far end of the hall. He walked towards it, passing 004, 005,and 006 before finally reaching his apartment. He switched his grip on the sleeping girl, cradling her in his left arm before fishing in his pocket for his keys. After a few moments of shifting through it's contents, he finally felt the tip of something metal. "There we are." he said in quiet triumph, not wanting to wake up the sleeping girl. He pulled out his keys and quickly twisted them in the lock, pushing open the door. He took a breath, smiling as he smelt the familiar scent of roses, the cause of which not being flowers, but rather the air freshener plugged into the wall.

He walked in, shutting the door behind him as he looked around the room. The room itself was actually a pretty standard apartment. There was a small kitchen area, consisting of a mini-fridge and a microwave, a few cabinets meant for storage that were, most likely, empty. Past the small area of kitchen there was a bit of a living room, a small television, couch, and coffee table all that really occupied it. To his right was the bedroom, having a bed, obviously, and an end table, along with two doors. One of them lead to a closet, the other, the bathroom. Roman took off his hat, setting it on the coat rack to the right of the door. " _Might want to give her a bath before I set the coat away._ " he thought to himself as he walked through the already open bedroom door. " _I've really gotta stop leaving that open._ " he thought to himself.

He opened the door to the bathroom, shutting it behind him as he set the girl down on the rug, as gently as he could. He placed his right hand on the side of her face, lightly patting her, "Wake up kid." he said simply. Of course, this yielded almost no results, the girl only lightly turning on her side. Romans sighed, "Okay then, looks like I'm bathing you myself." he muttered as he reached for the somewhat tattered rope around her waist. It came away surprisingly easy, nearly crumbling in his grip. " _How long has she had this?_ " Roman wondered. He looked back at the girl, lightly pulling on the sides of her outfit, it coming away in pieces, leaving her laying on top of it. Roman looked at the clothing, flipping it over. "' _Atlesian potato farms'? Okay, that explains a bit._ " ht thought to himself as he turned around, turning on the water and plugging the drain.

Once the tub was nearly full, enough that he was fairly certain the girl wouldn't drown, he picked her up, setting her inside. Almost immediately the water began turning brown, spreading for a few moments. " _This is gonna take a while…_ " Roman thought as he rolled back his sleeves, unplugging the drain and letting the dirty water drain out. Roman immediately started running another bath.

After another two attempts, Roman decided on something else. "Let's just give you a shower instead." he muttered to himself as he pulled down on the tub's faucet, the overhead shower coming on. Roman stood, reaching up and setting the shower to it's gentlest setting, where it simply release a flow of water downwards, the 'waterfall' setting as Roman called it. He rolled up both sleeves this time, holding the girl beneath the waterfall… other than her head of course. " _I'm gonna need more kid friendly soap._ " he thought as he started washing off the tiny girl's body with a normal piece of soap. After maybe ten minutes of scrubbing away at the grime on the girl, Roman was finally able to see that her actual skin tone was much closer to pale white than he'd expected. " _That's her body clean, now for her hair._ " he thought.

After another ten minutes of scrubbing at her hair, Roman was finally able to get it clean. Though, unfortunately, it seemed the white streaks made by the bleach were there to stay. " _Well, it's not that noticeable at least._ " he thought to himself as he set the girl down on his bed. He sighed as he reached into his pocket, pulling out his scroll, "I can't believe I'm actually doing this…" he muttered to himself as he dialed the familiar number, holding it up to his ear. After three rings the person on the other end picked up, "Hello?" Roman said. The person on the other end sighed, "Roman, what have I told you? We're through. Now stop calling me!" they said. Roman nodded, despite knowing she couldn't see him. "Look Bella I know, this isn't about me. I found someone hurt and I need someone with medical experience, you're the only one I can trust about this." he said. The person on the other end seemed to mull it over, "Where are you?" she asked. Roman smiled, "At my place, above the club."

During this phone call between Roman and his ex, the girl opened her eyes. " _Where am I? What's that smell?_ " she thought to herself as she pushed herself upright. She looked around, seeing walls that weren't made of brick, but rather some strange, beige material. She wasn't sleeping on her old, ratty mattress, but rather a larger and more comfortable one, covered with some kind of strange cloth. Her clothes were nowhere to be found, but the layers of grime and stench that normally clung to her body were gone, replaced with smooth, white skin she didn't even know she had. She reached her hands up, moving strands of her hair around, finding that, rather than clinging together like normal, they separated and fell around her face. She raised her arm up, sniffing to find that it was _her_ that smelled good, rather than something around her as was normally the case. She moved around, grabbing the table nearby and trying to get off the mattress, only for pain to shoot up her body.

She fell to the ground, breathing in every few seconds, trying not to breath too deeply, as every breath hurt her. She looked up, seeing a large, white stain on an otherwise black coat, the very man that saved her. Speaking of, the man turned around, pressing a button on a strange device in his hand. "Might not wanna get up for a while. They hurt you pretty badly." he said. " _This is nothing for me._ " the girl thought to herself as she tried to stand, grunting with effort as she held onto the bed, walking maybe two steps on shaky legs before the man walked over, picking her up and laying her on the bed. "Well, it'll be a while before Bella gets here, so we may as well get acquainted. Name's Roman Torchwick, what's your's kid?" he asked. The girl opened her mouth, about to say how she didn't have a name, only for a hoarse whisper to come out, her grabbing at her throat in pain.

Roman nodded, "I see, must've hurt your windpipe or something. Hold on a minute." he said as he walked out of the room. He walked over to one of the kitchen drawers, pulling out a small notepad and a pen. " _Here's hoping she can write._ " the young thief thought to himself as he walked back in the room. The girl eyed him with white eyes, backing up slightly on the bed as he sat down, placing the pen and pad in front of her. "Go on, write your name." he said. The girl nodded, grabbing the pencil in one fist and moving the pencil in random directions. Until she held up the paper. What was on the paper was illegible chicken scratch. " _Of course… gotta think of something…_ " Roman thought as he stood, removing his coat and examining the back of it. " _Huh, kind of like that white look actually…_ " he thought to himself before tossing it on the floor.

He turned to the girl, rolling down the sleeves on his gray undershirt. "Okay, you can't talk or right and, going by assumption, you can't read either. So, I'll ask you questions and you'll nod or shake your head, okay? Nod if you understand." he said. The girl nodded. "Okay, first, do you know where your parents are?" he asked. The girl shook her head. "Okay, second, do you know your name?" he asked, hoping to get somewhere with the girl. Another head shake. "Alright, did you forget your name?" he asked. Another shake. "Do you not have a name?" Roman asked somewhat sarcastically. So you can imagine his surprise when she nodded yes. "Oh, well that… changes things. Ok, had you been in that alley your whole life?" he asked. Another nod. "Okay, listen kid. I have a friend of mine coming over to see if there's anything wrong with you, then… we'll go from there." he said.

The girl nodded, but then suddenly started coughing, her hands flying up to her throat. "Does your throat hurt?" he asked. The girl nodded, a few tears at the corners of her eyes as she squeezed them shut. Roman nodded, standing up and walking out of the room. " _Sore throat, sore throat, what the heck is good for that?_ " he thought to himself as he walked into the kitchen, opening up the fridge. Milk, carrots, alcohol… " _Odd, maybe this'll work._ " he thought as he pulled out a tub of ice cream. He opened it, seeing that underneath the frozen label there was likely the word "Neapolitan". He shrugged as he shut the fridge, setting down the ice cream on the table and grabbing a scoop from the utensil drawer and turning the sink on, making sure the tap was set to hot water. As he waited for it to heat up, Roman grabbed the now opened container, scraping the side of it, which was covered in frost, enough to where it revealed the whole thing. Oddly enough, the letters were a bit faded, so much that the name looked closer to 'Neopolitan' than Neapolitan.

After a few moments Roman touched the faucet, jerking back at the heat. " _Okay, definitely hot enough._ " he thought to himself as he grabbed the scoop, running it under the water for a few seconds before turning the water off, drying the scoop and grabbing a styrofoam bowl, along with a plastic spoon as an afterthought. He scooped a bit of each of the three ice creams into the bowl, stuck the plastic spoon in the side, and stuffed the container back into the fridge. He walked back into the bedroom, finding the small girl randomly moving her pencil around one of the notepads, making random lines until she seemed to notice Roman. She sat back upright, tilting her head and pointing at the bowl in his hands. "This is called 'ice cream', it should help your throat." he said as he set the bowl down.

The girl looked at the strange substance, as well as the strange object stuck in the side of it, and looked back up to Roman, her eyes flashing pink. Roman picked up the strange object, holding it up, "This is called a spoon, you use it to eat the ice cream, like this." he said as he dug a small bit of the vanilla part, placing it in his mouth. He took it out and spun the spoon around, giving her the handle. She grabbed it, doing exactly as Roman had done, taking a small bit of the ice cream on the edge of the spoon. She shut her eyes as she quickly wrapped her lips around it, expecting a horrible taste. What she got, on the other hand, quickly changed her mind. She seemed to lose control as she started grabbing more and more it in spoonfuls, eating it as fast as she could. That is, until she bit into the ice cream.

The girl froze up, grabbing at her mouth as she dropped the spoon, shutting her eyes as she tried to block out the intense feeling of cold pain. Roman chuckled, "Yeah, that's called 'brain freeze', you aren't in a race, eat it slowly." he said while placing a hand on her shoulder. The girl had to admit, the cool treat _did_ ease the searing pain of her throat whenever she took a breath. She continued eating until the bowl was empty, holding it out with wide eyes and a small smile, as if asking for more. Roman chuckled as he took the bowl, "You sure do like ice cream." he muttered to himself as he walked towards the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing the tub of ice cream. " _May as well bring the whole thing, this girl looks like she'll need it._ " he thought.

When he walked back in with the tub, setting it down in front of the girl, she went in. Shoveling it into her mouth as fast as she could, while still avoiding brain freeze that is. Roman smiled as he watched her, that same strange feeling stirring in his chest as he watched her eating ice cream. "Well… if you haven't got a name, I guess we need to give you one huh?" he said. The girl looked up, her eyes vaguely interested in Roman, but clearly more interested in the ice cream beneath her, as well as the fair amount of it that had splattered onto her chin, slowly dripping down her naked body. Roman chuckled as he reached into his pocket, grabbing out a small handkerchief and wiping the girl's face with it, her involuntarily shutting her eyes as he did so. Roman looked around, " _What'd be a good name for her?_ " he thought. The girl shrugged as she continued eating. That's when it hit him. "How about Neopolitan?" Roman asked. The girl looked up, her eyes sparkling as she nodded, setting the ice cream to the side. "You like that name?" he asked. The girl didn't answer, instead hugging him, a feeling of cold on Roman's left cheek as he saw the girl nuzzling against it. He chuckled,

"Hehe, Neopolitan Torchwick… has a nice ring to it."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n- warning, slight sexual content and some minor swearing in this one. View discretion is advised.**

Chapter 2: The Fruit, the Candle, and the Ice Cream.

Bella Peach was a promising young medical student. Finished top in her year, took botany as a minor, volunteered at the orphanage nearby, you get the gist. A straight A student that never got wasted, never stole, rarely if ever lied, and was all in all one of the best role models out there. Hell, she was even a teacher's aid at the one and only Beacon academy, likely on her road to being a professor there one day.

So how in dust's name did she get mixed up with Roman Torchwick?

Indeed, this question had plagued Bella for a long time. Was it fate? Was it convenience? Was it simply his suave attitude? His good looks? Maybe it was a combination of all of these things, or maybe something different. Though, as Bella got into her car, still dressed in her dark blue scrubs from her part time job at the hospital, she didn't really care. " _He says someone's hurt… I swear to god if this is one of his excuses…_ " she thought to herself as she pulled open the glove box, seeing that her medkit was still there. Based on Roman's past encounters, she figured she'd have to tend to some minor injury of his, deal with his smooth talking to try and get her to come back to him, and then head home, just as exhausted as always. "Why did I even pick up the call?" she said as she shut the glove box, pulling out of her parking space and into the nearly empty lot. Then again, at nine o'clock, most people were already gone home, the night shift just starting to arrive. "This better be worth my time." she muttered as she started the drive to Roman's apartment.

It was maybe a ten minutes drive to the club Roman had set up shop in, and in that time she'd already started growing uneasy. She knew the area, and many people in it, but still, she didn't have her tranquilizer gun or taser on her this time, not to mention she was dressed in scrubs that showed off her, ahem, 'assets', quite prominently. She pulled into a parking space on the side of the club, taking a breath as she shut off her care, grabbing her medkit from the glovebox before stepping out, locking it behind her as she shoved her keys in her pocket. " _Of all the days to leave my purse at home…_ " she thought to herself as she neared the entrance. The bouncer nodded, "Peach I presume? Roman said you'd be comin'. Go ahead." he said, pushing open the door. Peach gave the bouncer a nod in thanks, walking into the club as if she'd done it a million times. Which, knowing Roman, wasn't all that far from the truth.

"Haven't seen you in a while." a gruff voice said from the bar. Peach looked over, smiling slightly as she saw the owner/bartender, otherwise known as Junior, sitting at the bar, cleaning a glass as he always seemed to be. To a trained RN like Peach, it was rather clear that he was drunk, with the nearly unnoticeable delay in his speech and the slight haze in his eyes. " _Correction, buzzed, not drunk._ " she thought to herself as she gave a slight wave at the man, "Hey Junior, how are you?" she asked politely. While she was in a relationship with Roman, the man had been considerably friendly, and even after the two split, he still treated her like an old friend. Maybe that was just how the man worked?

Junior looked at the girl, smiling a bit as he stretched, yawning before he leaned back over the counter, setting the glass to the side. "Same old same old, not much changes around here. Well, till tonight…" he said, looking up towards the staircase leading to Roman and the young girl. "Why? What happened?" Peach asked. Junior looked towards her, shaking his head and chuckling a bit, "He didn't tell you huh? Well, let's just say you'll be seein' a whole new side to the 'nefarious criminal' soon enough. Hehehe, head on up, knock on the door, you know the drill." he said, turning around and grabbing a few bottles of whiskey, organizing them.

Peach gave a slight pout at this, " _I hate it when he does that._ " she thought. She was clearly referring to the way that Junior could somehow wrap the silence around himself, seeming to make any further attempts at conversation just fizzle out. After so long, Peach knew better than to try and make the man talk, and simply turned around, walking towards the familiar staircase. When she got over to it, she pulled open the door, trekking up the stairs until she found the familiar door to the apartments. She walked through it, passing the two vacant apartments, as well as Junior's, before finally arriving at apartment number 007. She held up a fist, knocking on the door three times.

From within the apartment, the newly named Neopolitan and Roman heard the knock. Neo looked up at Roman, her eyes expecting some kind of explanation. Roman smiled, "Don't worry, that's the friend of mine I was telling you about, she's here to make sure you'll be okay, and maybe give you something for that sore throat of yours." he said. At that Roman stood, walking out of the bedroom and into the main one, grabbing his cane from the side as he pulled open the door, revealing his ex girlfriend on the other side. To Roman, Bella Peach was an absolute angel. Eyes that could kill you with a gaze, a voice that made his heart flutter, and a body that matched her mind in beauty. Roman knew she was a genius when it came to the medical field, and was likely someone that would make a big difference in the world.

So why did he ever think he had a chance with her?

"Bella, glad you could make it." Roman said, smiling as he gestured her inside. She walked in, looking around with clear disdain as her shoes slapped against the floor. Roman shut the door behind her, Bella spinning around and glaring at the taller man. "Okay Torchwick, show me where it hurts so we can get this over with." she said, perfectly prepared for the same old routine. So she was rather surprised when Roman shook his head, "It's not me that's hurt. She's in here." he said, walking towards the bedroom. She raised an eyebrow, still suspicious of the man, "Wait, there's _actually_ someone in your bedroom?" she asked. Roman nodded, "Of course. I'd do many, _many_ things to you Bella, but I never have and never _will_ lie to you." he said. Peach smiled slightly at his ironically chivalrous statement. The man that would throw anyone under the bus to get his way would never lie to her? Fat chance. Still Peach played along, walking into his bedroom.

From inside, Neo, who'd just finished the last of the ice cream, looked up, her right eye flashing brown when she saw the tall, blonde haired woman. Shocked blue eyes gazed at Neo as she moved back, clutching the spoon in her right hand. "Umm… why's she naked?" Peach asked, looking behind her at Roman. Roman sighed, "Since her actual 'clothes' if you could call them that, consisted of an Atlesian farm potato sack and an old rope." he said simply, lighting up a cigar. Of course, the moment he did so, he saw Peach pluck it from his hands, snapping it in two, "You know smoking's bad for you, and honestly, the amount of damage you could do to the walls around here…" she said. Roman held up a hand, stopping her from going on a tirade about his bad habits. Of which she had _plenty_ to choose from. "Look, that isn't important right now. There's something wrong with her throat, it seems to hurt her whenever she talks." he said.

Peach looked up, her eyes flashing with the same seriousness she'd only ever shown on serious medical patients, "I'm on it." she said, grabbing her first aid kit and striding into the room. Young Neo, who was still wary of the woman, flinched back when she saw her nearly break open the door. Peach looked at the girl, her eyes softening a bit as her medically trained eyes scanned over her, looking for any injuries. The first thing she noticed was, of course, the bruises on her body. They were many and plentiful, most of them light purple, though a few, most notably one across her throat, were _much_ darker purple. " _Poor girl, who did this to you?_ " Peach thought as she sat down, giving her a gentle smile. "Hey there." she said, trying to get the girl approach her. The girl's eyes both turned brown, her backing up as she sported a fearful expression.

Peach held out her hands, "Don't worry. I'm not going to harm you. I'm a nurse, I'm here to make you feel better. You know, make the ouchies go away?" she said in a much more babified voice than she normally would've used. Neo's eyes turned pale pink, her head tilted as she sported a quizzical expression. "She's the lady I told you about Neo. The one that'll make sure nothing's wrong with you." Peach heard Roman say. She turned around, seeing Roman standing in the doorway, swiping his orange hair out of his face for a moment, only for it to immediately fall back into place over his left eye. He walked in the room, holding out a hand to Neo, "Don't worry Neo, you can trust her." he said, giving her a small smile. Neo smiled back, laying her hand in Roman's as he gently guided her over to Peach.

Peach just sat there, her eyes gradually getting wider in shock. It was as if she were looking at a completely different person. The smooth criminal she knew as Roman Torchwick didn't seem to be present, but rather, a kinder, gentler soul. The way he spoke, the way he moved, even the way he _looked_ seemed different. Despite his appearance not changing, other than maybe him ditching his black overcoat, he looked like a completely different person. His eyes, behind all the makeup, weren't shining with arrogance and pride, but rather, with a sort of tenderness. " _Where was_ _ **this**_ _Roman when we were dating?_ " she thought. If she was honest with herself, Peach found this Roman _much_ more attractive than the arrogant, cocky bad boy persona.

Neo looked up, observing the woman, looking for any potential threat. An instinct that had served her well in the streets. The woman was pretty, that much Neo could tell even with her limited experience with the outside world. She had long, blonde hair that draped down to her shoulders, almost framing her face. Her skin was slightly tanned, a slight bit darker than Romans. Her eyes were bright blue crystals, staring at Neo as she continued her examination. Unlike most people Neo had seen, the woman's chest was rather large, seeming to jut out from her body, rather than most of the completely flat chests of every other person she'd seen, herself included. She was dressed in strange, dark blue clothes, a pocket on her left breast having a strange object sticking out of it. Sitting in her lap was a white case with what looked like a red cross on the front, some scribbling she couldn't read on it. She had a smile on her face, showing off her slightly red lips, unlike Neo and Roman's peach colored ones, as she leaned over.

Peach held out her left hand, "See? I'm not scary. Come here so I can make you better." she said. Neo looked at Roman, who nodded in approval. She took a breath, letting go of Roman's hand and finally moving over to Peach. Peach looked down, undoing her medkit's metal clasp. She pulled the hood up, quickly grabbing a small flashlight. " _Roman says she has a sore throat, may as well check out that first._ " she thought to herself as she grabbed a small popsicle stick, (she'd had to improvise). "Open wide." she said, moving the makeshift Tongue Depressor towards the young girl's mouth. The girl hesitated for a moment before complying, opening her mouth as Peach gently pressed down on her tongue, shining the light inside her throat. "Oh my…" Peach muttered, setting her flashlight and tongue depressor back into the bag.

"What is it?" Roman asked, a twinge of worry slipping past his features. Peach looked at him, "Well… how do I put this?" she said, looking down at the floor. Roman felt his heart skip a beat as he walked towards her, "Bella? Peach? What is it? What's wrong with her?!" he asked, feeling the seeds of doubt sowing themselves into his mind. Peach looked up, "Well, her windpipes' been damaged, and it seemed whatever did it also had an impact on her vocal cords. Thankfully it seems as if all the damage can be reversed, though… there's no guarantee that she'll be able to make a full recovery. Even if she is, I'd advise not having her doing any strenuous exercise for a while. If she does recover…" she stopped, looking back down at her kit. Roman had to stop himself from growling, getting rather impatient with the woman's constant stopping mid-sentence. "What?" he asked.

She sighed, "If she does recover… it'll be at least a year, maybe even two, before she can possible talk again." she said. Roman sighed in relief, "Thank god." he said. Peach gave him an odd look. "Did you not here what I just said?" she asked. He nodded, "Yeah, I heard what you said. The way you were talking I could've sworn she was gonna _die_ or something." he said, wiping away the beads of sweat he hadn't noticed accumulating on his forehead. Peach shook her head, "No no, nothing that serious. Granted, I'm not an expert on the subject of the windpipe and vocal cords." for a few moments there was absolute silence, the only sound being the faint hum of the lights working. "Umm… do you plan on clothing her or just, letting her run around naked all day?" Peach asked.

Roman shrugged, "Well, it's not as if I have an unlimited supply of girl clothes on standby. Even if I did, I doubt they'd be for someone her age." he said. Peach stood, holding her first aid kit by her side like a briefcase. "Well, lucky for you I _do_ know a place that might have something her size. You don't happen to have a tape measure around here do you?" she asked. "Lucky for you I've got one." a voice interrupted. "GAH/KYA!" Roman and Peach screamed in unison as they jumped back, Roman falling back onto the bed as Peach fell on top of him, Roman subconsciously wrapping her arms around her before they landed. Neo just stared at the new figure with a blank look, and was met with a warm smile. "Hey kid. Nice to see you up and about." the man said.

Peach looked around, and out of the corner of her eye noticed a familiar black vest draped over a white shirt. "Dammit Junior, don't just barge in here like that! At least _knock_ first!" Roman said, glaring at his landlord/acquaintance. Junior glared at Roman, "I _did_ knock, for almost three minutes straight might I add. Nobody answered the door so I let myself in." he said. "Oh." Roman and Peach both said, looked at Junior somewhat sheepishly. He held up his right hand, revealing him to have a small role of measuring tape. "I'm kinda glad I actually had this on me for once. I can take her measurements so you two can get her clothes." he said as he walked over to Neo. Now Neo, not having the best experiences with large men, ducked back a bit at the sight of the intimidating bartender.

Junior just held up his hands, "Don't worry kid, I won't hurt you." he said, smiling lightly at her, just before he looked back at Roman and Peach. "Wait, you two weren't about to do what I think you were were you?" he said, gesturing to the way Roman was holding Peach. Peach's face turned bright red as she jumped back, Roman just pulling his hands away as Peach wrapped her arms around her chest. "WE MOST CERTAINLY WERE _NOT_ ABOUT TO DO THAT!" she yelled. At the woman's yelling, Neo jumped back behind the bed, only sticking her head out with pale pink eyes to see what was going on. Junior sighed, "Now look what you've done, you've gone and scared her." he said. Roman looked at Junior oddly, "Why're you here exactly?" he asked. It was rather… out of character for Junior to come into one of his tenants rooms just to make idle chat and offer help.

Junior stood, straightening his tie before walking past the still scandalized Peach, disappearing through the door for a moment, just before walking back in with what looked to be a small, pink onesie. "I figured this might be big enough to fit her. A little big but, better than nothing." he said. Roman looked over at Peach, not wanting to ask _why_ Junior had the clothing obviously meant for young children. Then again, he already had a pretty good guess. "Well, I guess that means we're clothes shopping." he said. Peach moved her arms to her side, giving Roman an odd look, "Why am I going might I ask? Shouldn't I stay behind and look after her?" she asked. Junior decided to speak up, "I'll handle that, need to get her measurements anyways." he said.

Meanwhile, Neo watched the three adults exchange with a vague interest, her eyes shifting between the three as she lay her chin on the bed, the rest of her body limply beneath it as her eyes looked back and forth between the three. She noticed that the tallest one, "Junior" she thought she heard Roman call him, was holding a small, pink piece of clothing. Neo, being the curious girl she was, slowly walked around the bed, holding onto the edge to stay steady, her body still not fully recovered from the beating the Tough Guys had given her. She crouched low, enough that her body was concealed by the bed before she peeked out, seeing the large man setting down the pink onesie on the bed. Neo took a few steps towards it, eyeing it oddly. That's when Junior turned around.

He looked down, surprised to see the kid wasn't hiding behind the bed but, rather, had walked over towards him on still shaking legs, just eyeing the onesie with a strange sort of fascination. "You can have it you know." he said, smiling at her. She jerked her head up, as if surprised she'd been spotted. Though, the look of confusion she had was more than likely from the tall man's statement. "Say Roman, what's her name anyway?" he asked. Roman chuckled, "Sorry, I forgot to tell you guys. Her name's Neopolitan Torchwick. Or just Neo for short." he said. The woman looked at Roman, starting to speak rather quickly. Though, Neo was more focused on the tall man walking over to her, carrying the strange cloth in his left hand.

"Before we get you in this, you gotta do me a favor, K kid?" he said softly, smiling at the girl. Neo nodded, gripping onto the bedpost. "All you gotta do, is stand nice and straight, no holding onto anything, for a few seconds. Okay?" he asked. Neo nodded, letting go of the bedpost, her knees only slightly shaky. "Good. Now, just don't move." he said. Neo nodded, fighting all of her instincts to run as she felt the cold measuring tape against her bare skin, the plastic wrapping around certain parts of her body a few times as she shut her eyes. "Okay, there we go." Junior said. Neo cracked open one eye, seeing that Junior was once against holding out the pink outfit to her, the measuring tape nowhere in sight.

Meanwhile, Roman grabbed the measurements Junior had wrote down, taking Peach's hand in his own and striding out of the room, shutting the door behind him. "Let me grab my wallet, then we'll head to that place you were talking about." he said, walking back over to what qualified as his little living room area. He reached between the couch cushions, moving his hand around for a few moments. " _Coins, lint, rubber bands… where is it?_ " he thought as he continued moving around. "Bingo." he muttered as he pulled out a small, black leather wallet. "Let's hope this'll be enough." he said as he walked back over to Peach, striding past her as he grabbed her wrist, walking out the door as quickly as he'd entered.

Junior smiled as Neo grabbed the edges of the pink onesie, taking it from his hands as she moved her own along the sides, likely feeling how soft it was before she put it on. She flipped it around, giving Junior a confused look as she saw the zipper on the front. Junior chuckled in spite of himself, "You pull it down, like this." he said, lightly pulling down on the zipper to open it slightly. Neo nodded, smiling slightly as she pulled it all the way down, then all the way up, then all the way down again. "Okay okay, as fun as that may be, you might want to put it on." Junior said, smiling at the girl's childish antics. Neo nodded again, smiling as she turned, moving her legs into the onesie before pushing her arms through the side, zipping it back up near her neck. Junior felt a strange sense of nostalgia as he looked at her, as well as a pang of sadness. The cause of which, he knew all too well.

To Neo, it was like heaven. The soft fabric against her bare skin was easily the most comfortable thing she'd ever worn. She smiled up at Junior as he sat back on the bed, quickly scrambling up there herself. "Well… we've got a while until Peach and Roman get back. You got anything you wanna do?" Junior asked, smiling down at the girl. Neo placed her index finger on her chin, tapping as she got a concentrated look on her face. Then, she remembered her first attempts at communicating. She turned around, flopping onto her belly before crawling over to the side of her bed, grabbing the notepad and pencil Roman hadn't put away. "Huh? Whatcha got there?" Junior said, looking over at his small guest.

Neo held the notepad in her hand, holding up her right hand, as if to tell Junior not to move. Junior took the hint, not moving an inch as Neo turned, flopping herself down on the side of the bed, as Junior was in the center, and began to draw on the notepad. Granted, it likely wasn't the right way, as the pen was held in a clenched fist, her tongue stuck out of the left side of her mouth as her face sported a look of extreme concentration. She tilted her pen left and right, drawing circles and lines in a vague resemblance of a human. Junior tried to look over at her drawing, but Neo simply tilted the pad, keeping him from seeing what was on it.

Maybe five minutes later, Neo sat back upright, her legs slightly swinging over the bed as she held up the notepad, smiling at Junior as he saw her creation. On it was a crudely drawn picture of Junior and Neo, them holding hands, both smiling. For a six year old the art was pretty decent, but to Junior, it was a lot more than that. Neo frowned when she put down the notepad, seeing that Junior's face wasn't sporting a smile that she'd hoped for, but rather a sad one, with a single tear running down the side of his face. Neo set the pad down behind her, placing her hands on the mattress and lightly jumping over towards Junior. She simply wrapped her arms around his left one, leaning her head against his shirt in hopes to convene a message that she couldn't say. " _I'm sorry, please don't be sad._ "

To Junior, the moment he say that picture, it brought back memories, both beautiful, and painful. He saw a flash of brown, the feeling of someone grasping his arm, the sense of pride and fulfillment that only a father would know. Then… he felt the suffering that only a parent could know. One that had lost everything they cared about. Though, it was another person grasping his arm that brought him out of his thoughts. He looked down, seeing Neo looking up at him, her eyes saddened as she hugged his arm. He smiled at her, wiping away his few tears with his left hand as he moved his right arm out of her grip, scooping her up with his right arm and pulling her into his lap. "Sorry Neo. It's not your fault, just… something you'll understand when you're older." he said, not wanting to let the little girl even know about such a dark memory.

Neo seemed satisfied with this, smiling as she felt a wave of exhaustion hitting her. She let out a quiet little yawn, her eyes drooping a bit as she felt the sting in her throat that had started to become normal by now. Junior smiled, moving his other arm around to better cradle the sleepy child. "Hehe, guess you must be tired huh?" he said, smiling down at the little girl. Two white eyes stared back at him as she nodded, nuzzling into his chest as she got a slight smile on her face. Junior smiled back, content to slightly sway his arms like a swing as the girl slowly drifted off to sleep. " _She's not Ming… but she does act a lot like her._ " Junior thought as he kept swaying his arms, lost in his memories.

"Where is this place exactly?" Roman asked, looking over at his ex, Peach. He felt entitled to ask that, since they'd been driving for fifteen minutes as fast as they could go. Said ex sighed, "It's just down the road from here, relax Roman, what's got you so worked up?" she asked. He placed his arm on the rest inside her car, looking out the window at the passing lights, "Neo. I don't like leaving her alone." he said. Peach gave him a "You're kidding." look. "Well, it's not like she's 'alone' alone, she's got Junior looking after her. From what I saw he's okay with kids." she said, noting how Junior had gotten Neo to come to him, unlike how Roman had had to help her, a fact that she _really_ didn't like.

" _Or maybe you're just bad with them._ " Roman thought, rolling his eyes. "Yeah… you're probably right. Let's just get her some clothes and get back." he said. He pulled his hair slightly to the right so he could view her out of his left eye. Roman had thought it a million times, but _damn_ she was hot. Her nearly flawless skin (she had a mole somewhere, but Roman couldn't find it), her perfect blonde hair, the fact that she didn't even need makeup to be drop dead gorgeous. That wasn't even _starting_ with her body. The way her hips slightly swayed as she walked, wide enough to give her that near perfect hourglass figure. Her rear was perfect to Roman, big enough that she was sexy, but not enough that she was fat. Her supple breasts were just large enough to turn him on, but not enough that it grossed him out (about Yang's size for reference). Whenever men saw her walking down the street, they always turned to look at her, as if having to do a double take.

Inwardly, Roman cursed himself for letting her get away. " _Could've changed, could've just tried my hand at honest living… heh, doesn't sound like much fun though…_ " he thought. He couldn't go and work at a desk for some company he could barely stand. He adamantly _refused_ to lower himself to that level of work. After all, he was one of Signal academy's most promising students back in the day, but when it came time to go to one of the academies, no one would accept him. So what if he was a bit of a delinquent? So what if he spied on other students (namely one Summer Rose)? So what if he accidentally blew up his dust lab? Why did that _matter_? Of course, Roman wasn't a man to dwell on the if's, and's, or but's about something. Those 'what if' scenario's were just a waste of time. Though… he couldn't help but wonder. Peach looked over at him, Roman just darting his eyes back out the window. "Say… how'd you find Neo anyway?" Peach asked.

Roman turned towards her, "It was in an alleyway. I saw her getting beaten up by some Tough Guys and I… sort of lost it. I knocked two of them out when the third threw a bleach jug at me. Got all over my coat…" he said, silently vowing vengeance on the man that dared mess with his fashion accessories. Peach nearly stopped the car when he said that, " _Roman actually helped someone? I've never even heard of that happening. What is it about that girl that makes him this way?_ " she thought before Roman spoke again. "Hey, is that it?" he asked, pointing towards a lit up store, the sign faded away to almost nothing. Peach nodded, smiling a bit as she pulled into the nearest parking space. "Yeah… you've got the measurements right?" she asked. Roman nodded, reaching into his hat and pulling out the small slip of paper.

Without exchanging any more words, the two got out, shutting the doors to Peach's car before walking in the store. "Well, it's certainly… very pink." Roman said. Indeed, the whole _place_ was pink. Pink walls, pink ceilings, even a pink _floor_. "Hello darlings~" he heard a distinctly feminine voice say. He looked up, seeing a woman walking towards them. She was about the same height as Roman himself, her eyes sparkling amber as she dashed over, wrapping Daisy in an embrace. "Oh it's been _so_ long since your last visit sweetheart! You simply _must_ come over more often. Oh! Who's this? Your boyfriend perhaps?" the woman said, speaking incredibly quickly. Peach blushed as she shook her head, "No! We aren't dating. I'm helping him shop for clothes for…" Peach looked around, struggling to come up with an excuse.

Fortunately, Roman had been in the business of lying and making up stories for a _long_ time. "My niece, Miltia. She's turning six in a few weeks and I needed help getting a gift. Bella and I are old classmates from Signal, so I gave her a ring and asked her to help me." he said smoothly, not sounding any different than when he was actually talking. The woman nodded, "In that case, have a look around! I'm certain you'll find something you like! If not, let me know! I might have something stashed away." she said enthusiastically before bounded off. Roman looked at Peach, "Friend of yours?" he asked. She shook her head, "Aunt." she said. Roman nodded, "I feel sorry for you." he said quickly before walking some random direction, looking for good clothes for Neo.

"Hey wait up!" Peach said, dashing forwards to catch up with Roman. Roman didn't slow down any, Peach having to stretch her legs out slightly to keep up with him. After a few minutes of walking, Roman came across something that really grabbed his attention. He slowed down, walking towards it as he saw what it was. It was a small, pink dress, set on racks with many others in different sizes. He looked down at the measurements he'd kept grasped in his hand, then looked through the dresses, seeing that they did in fact have one of the right size. "Aww, that's so cute." Peach said, smiling at the small dress, grabbing one and absently holding it up to her. On her on the other hand, it only just barely went to her waist. "Maybe she can order this in a bigger size for me…" she thought with a small smile. Roman chuckled, "I think you'd look fine in that size." he said, swinging the dress he was _actually_ going to buy over his shoulder.

Peach blushed at Roman's words. "Yeah, as if I'd ever get this. Still… it _is_ a cute dress…" she said, trailing off. Roman shrugged, "Hell, I'd buy it for you if I thought you'd ever wear it." he said. Peach laughed, "Yeah right, like you'd spend that much money, these dresses aren't exactly cheap." she said, gesturing to the almost 250 lien price tag. He shrugged, "Nah, I'd still buy it. You'd just never wear it." he said. Peach smirked, "Oh yeah? I'd wear it if you bought it." she said. Roman laughed, "Yeah when? You wouldn't be caught _dead_ wearing something that revealing. You wear a one-piece swimsuit and coverup to the beach for crying out loud!" he said. Peach felt a bit annoyed at this, "Oh yeah? So you think I'd never wear it, and I think you'd never buy it right?" she said. Roman nodded, "Yeah, exactly." he said. Peach smirked, "Well, if you buy it, how about I wear it for the rest of the night?" she said.

Roman smirked, "Fine then. I'll buy it, but you have to wear it in the car, _and_ while we're going through the club, got it?" he said. Peach nodded, confident that he wouldn't go through with it. " _No way he'd spend that much lien on me, maybe while we were dating, but not now._ " she thought. With that little episode over, Roman kept walking through the store, grabbing more and more items for Neo, filling up the buggy with clothes, supplies for young kids, and even a few books on how to read and write. "Wait, Neo can't read or write?" Peach asked, looking at Roman oddly. He nodded, "Yeah, she can't. She was raised her whole life in that alley apparently. Based on what I could gather." he said.

Peach nodded, continuing to walk with Roman as he grabbed items from the store shelves. As he began piling up the cart, Peach began to get worried. " _What if he really does have enough to pay for that dress and all this other stuff? I can't be seen in that!_ " she thought. When they finally got to the checkout, the woman at the front smiling the entire time, she felt her spirits lift, "That'll be 1350 lien", and fall, "Here." Roman said. Peach's eyes flew wide open as she saw Roman laying down enough lien to pay for the entire cart, _including_ the small dress she would be stuck in for the rest of the night. "Thank you! Come again!" the woman said as a triumphant Roman and a shocked Peach walked towards the back exit Roman had passed earlier.

" _Worked like a charm._ " Roman thought. As soon as he saw her eyeballing that dress, he came up with an idea to get her in one in front of him. He honestly hadn't known if his bluffing would work, but it had, and remarkably well at that. Now his ex, who was one of if not _the_ sexiest woman he knew, was going to be in what covered about as much as a towel. As they walked towards the exit, Roman looked at her. "You kind of brought this on yourself Bella. Either way, I'll give you the dress, just go the room and strip down first." he said, gesturing to the changing room near the exit. She grumbled as she reached into her pocket, pulling out her car keys and placing them in my palm, storming into the room as I heard the sounds of a lot of clothes being thrown off. She opened the door a crack, holding out her scrubs, as well as a lacy black bra and panty set. "Lacy black, good choice." Roman said as he gave her the dress, her snatching it away. Whenever she actually stepped out, Roman swore his heart was about to stop.

Even with the fabric as stretched as it would go, her breasts still spilled out of the dress, squeezed together in a style that was clearly unnatural, each touching the other. It was just big enough to keep anything indecent from showing, but if you looked close enough, you could just see a wiry hair or two near each breast. Below that, the dress stretched around her midriff, and at the very _lowest_ , the dress was maybe half an inch from exposing her. Granted, as long as she didn't stretch her legs out that far, she was fine. Beneath that, there was nothing. She didn't have shoes, socks, or stockings on, so her long, shaved, slender legs were on full display. She had them only maybe an inch apart now, nearly as close as she could get them. "This is gonna be a long night." she said, looking down at the ground. "Well, don't just stand there, spin around, show me what all the sides look like." Roman said, smiling slightly. She glared at him, but nodded anyway, turning around. The fabric wasn't all that long, so covering her butt? Out of the question. Only even the top half of it was remotely covered. Though, this quickly changed as she bent over slightly, pulling up the dressed and exposing her full rear to him. "This is what you wanted to see right?" she asked.

He looked at her oddly, "You didn't really have to do that." he said. She glared at him, "My bare ass is going to be on my car's seats, and it's not like you haven't seen it before." she said. Roman nodded, "I'll give you that much, let's just get this stuff in your car." he said. Peach nodded, taking small steps as Roman slowly walked towards the exit. It took them quite a while to just get to the car, as if Peach walked too fast she was in danger of flashing anyone lucky enough to be looking at her. Not to mention the fabric of the dress might rip, and she did _not_ want to drive back to the club naked, since she knew there was no way Roman would let her change. He knew she was a woman of her word, and that was exactly what he'd been counting on.

When they got close, Roman unlocked the car, popping the trunk before Peach pulled it up. "Hand me the keys, I'll start the car." she said. Roman complied, "Catch." he said, tossing the keys at her. Now, while Peach was many things, she was _far_ from coordinated, so when those keys came at her and she tried to catch them, they just slipped through her fingers, flying back behind her. Peach glared at Roman, "You did that on purpose!" she said. Roman shook his head, "Not my fault you can't catch." he said. Of course, Roman _knew_ she couldn't catch. Peach sighed as she turned around, looking for her keys, spotting them maybe ten feet away. " _Crap, if I bend over this dress might rip…_ " she thought to herself. How was she going to get those keys without fully exposing herself?

After a few minutes, Roman had everything put away, and had just pushed the cart over to it's return when he looked over, smirking at the sight. Peach was sitting on her legs, both of them bent over as she leaned forwards, almost like a cat, her bare bottom sticking up in the air as she did so. " _Almost there…_ " she thought to herself. Roman walked over, standing right behind her as she stretched, finally grasping the keys. "Got it." she muttered. Roman, deciding to have a little fun, pulled his hand back, giving her rear a spank. "EEP!" she yelled, falling forwards onto the ground, just barely holding onto her keys. "Be a little more careful Bella." Roman said, smiling at her predicament. She glared at him, "Oh kiss my ass you piece of sh-KYAAA!" she said, her face turning bright red as she felt a wet sense on her rear.

She stood up as quickly as she could without exposing herself, glaring at Roman, "What? You said to kiss your ass. I was giving you what you wanted." Roman said, looking off to the left with a smug grin. Peach looked like she was going to say something, but seemed to decide against it, "Just get in the car and let's go." she said, her voice sounding defeated. Roman nodded, walking back over to the passenger side of the car, as Peach approached the driver's seat. Roman decided to be a bit courteous for once, letting Peach get in first before he decided to take his seat. Peach nearly jammed the keys into the ignition as she turned on the car. She immediately started driving, backing out and going as fast as she could without actually going over the speed limit, and even going over at it some points.

"Why in such a hurry?" Roman asked. Peach glared at him for a moment before turning her eyes back to the road. "One, I don't want people seeing me in this slutty outfit. Two, I need to use the bathroom." she said. Roman chuckled, "You know that outfit isn't slutty right? I got the same one for Neo. It's just slutty cause it wasn't made for someone of your size. But hey, look on the bright side, all you have to do is squat down to use the bathroom." Roman said, offering what little consolation he could. Peach kept her eyes on the road, "Oh shut up." she said. Surprisingly, Roman actually did what she wanted, keeping quiet for almost the entirety of the ride back to his apartment.

Whenever they got back, Roman pulled out his scroll, typing out a quick message to Junior. " _We've got a lot of supplies for Neo, mind sending some goons out to help?_ " he wrote, then he sent it. His response? A simple "sure.". Not thirty seconds later four men walked out of the club, walking over to the back of the car as Peach sunk as low in the seat as she could, her face bright, bright red. Maybe ten minutes later, the four men had seemed to gather all the bags, as they didn't come back out. "I think that's everything. Now, I'm leaving." Peach said. Roman looked at her oddly, "Didn't you say you had to use the bathroom?" he asked. Peach scoffed, "I'd rather risk using it in my car than walk in the club in this thing." she said, lightly twisting the edge of the dress. Roman faced forwards, "Tell you what, change in the back seat into your normal clothes, then come in and use the bathroom. Don't worry, I won't look." he said. Peach was about to call him a liar, but she pain running through her abdomen told her otherwise. She had to go, _badly_.

She complied as Roman shut his eyes, Peach maneuvering into the backseat of the car and grabbing her scrubs. The pain moved beneath her waist as she took off the dress, quickly grabbing her scrubs and pulling them on, in so much of a hurry that she neglected to pull on her underwear. Once they were on, she quickly opened the door, "Let's go." Peach said. Roman opened his eyes, nodding as he got out of the car as well. Peach dashed for the back entrance, the closest way to Roman's apartment, as Roman started jogging to keep up with her. " _She must really have to go, she usually runs the other direction from my place_." Roman thought as he jogged up next to her, both of them making a mad dash for Roman's apartment. Roman quickly opened it, Peach dashing through and heading straight for the bathroom as Roman heard the fan come on. " _Woah, she wasn't kidding._ " Roman thought as he walked in, setting his hat back on the familiar rack.

Whenever he shut the door back, locking it, he looked back into the living room, smiling at what he saw. In the back corner of Roman's living room, near the far edge, there was an old recliner he'd found a while back, refurbished, and naturally placed in his apartment. Sitting on said recliner was Junior, a small smile set on his face as he rocked back and forth, looking down at the small child in his arms. Neo was fast asleep, her arms over her stomach as her head lolled against Junior's chest, her legs curled up so that she was in a near fetal position. Junior was just smiling down at her, rocking her slowly back and forth in the chair. Roman smiled, "Now isn't that adorable." Roman said, walking over as Junior looked up at him. "Hey, head on to bed, you'll need the rest for tomorrow. I'll take her." he said, holding out his arms.

Junior nodded, reluctantly holding out his arms as Roman took the small bundle of pink, cradling her the same way Junior had. Junior stood up, smiling at the shorter man as he placed his hand on his shoulder, "Take good care of her. Okay?" he said. Roman nodded, "I will. She's in good hands." he said. At that Junior walked out, heading for his own apartment for some much needed rest. Roman, on the other hand, walked towards his bedroom, sitting down on the bed as he looked at the small child in his arms. As he looked at her, that same strange feeling that had been swelling up in his chest whenever he looked at her came back, a smile bubbling up to the surface. " _I'll take good care of you… I promise._ " he thought to himself.

A few minutes later, Peach walked out of the bathroom, about to start berating Roman with accusations of being a pervert, among other things, but those words died on her lips when she saw him. Neo was cradled in his arms like a baby, and he was just looking at her, rocking her gently back and forth. A smile formed on Peach's face as she watched, " _It's almost enough to forgive him… almost._ " she thought to herself. She was still a bit miffed about him making her wear that dress, as well as hitting and kissing her ass. Roman looked up, holding a finger to his lips to usher silence before standing, pulling back the covers and laying Neo in the middle of the bed. Roman walked towards the kitchen, and Peach noiselessly followed, that same smile on her face the whole time. When they got to the front door, Roman opened it, smiling at Peach. "Bella… thanks. I know I shouldn't ask but, would you be willing to come over once in awhile? To check up on Neo?" he asked.

Peach nodded, "I'll come over when I can to check up on her, don't worry about that." she said. Roman nodded, reaching over and wrapping her in a hug. Peach froze, not used to this kind of physical contact with Roman when he had no ill intentions. Though, after a moment he simply let go, leaning in and giving her a quick peck on the lips. "Thanks for everything. I'll see you soon." he said, shutting the door behind her. Peach looked at the door, unconsciously touching the tips of her fingers to her lips as she sported a light blush. " _Wow, that was… different._ " she thought. Normally when he kissed her, even while they were dating, the only thing she could sense from it was lust, and his want to get her in his bed. But… that one was different. Sure he _always_ kissed her goodbye when she left but, that one wasn't lustful like the others. It felt… good.

Roman walked back towards his bedroom, having done his parting kiss with Peach as always. He kept that same smile he'd had since he walked into his apartment as he looked at Neo. He shut off the lights, walking over to his bed. Acting almost off of instinct rather than his own actions, he leaned down, sweeping her hair away from her forehead and giving it a quick peck. "Sweet dreams ice cream." he whispered. He turned around, walking away from his bedroom and shutting the door, heading straight for his couch. The moment he laid on it, he felt that inevitable sense of exhaustion hit him, his eyes slowly shutting as he left himself drift off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Bunny and The Bird

"Okay, what's your name?" Roman asked, looking down at Neo. Neo reached into her pocket, pulling out a small notepad and pen, writing something down before showing it to the criminal, the word "NEO" scrawled out, all capitals, in crude handwriting. Roman nodded, smiling, "Great job Neo!" he said. Neo smiled up at Roman, closing her eyes, seemingly basking in the best praise she'd ever gotten. Granted, it was also the _only_ praise she'd ever gotten. When she opened her eyes again, both of them pink, she saw that Roman had grabbed his new coat, one that was completely white. "Well Neo, what do you think?" he asked, giving a slight twirl. Neo held up her left thumb, smiling at him.

It had been almost two months since Roman had picked up Neo from the alley, and you could already begin to see the difference. She'd slowly started filling out more, at least enough that she couldn't count all of her ribs, and her bruises had started to heal as well, some disappearing altogether. Of course, the one around her throat was still a work in progress, it being slightly purple still. Strangely, and even Peach couldn't explain it, the white streaks in Neo's hair hadn't faded away at all, they remained as prominent as ever, showing no sign of dissipating. Of course, her health wasn't the only thing that had improved. Over the course of those two months, Roman, Peach, and even Junior on occasion had been teaching Neo to read, as well as, to an extent, write. Neo knew the alphabet, but she didn't know what a lot of words meant. Her best accomplishment? Learning to write on her little notepad.

So far, she could write the words YES, NO, GOOD, BAD, SORRY, HELLO, GOODBYE, NEO, TORCHWICK, I DON'T KNOW, and HELP. She didn't write them lowercase, as she hadn't really gotten that far yet, but they still got the message across. Roman, on the other hand, had had his own growth to. It was slow, and rather gradual, but Roman was steadily climbing the ranks of the criminal underground. He'd gone from grunt up to maybe minion status. He was, in a sense, a crook for hire at this stage. Of course, he mostly just helped out Junior and some of the other mob bosses in the city for the moment. Not only that, but he'd gotten his new coat as well, one he thought really brought the ensemble together. He was glad he was still rather unrecognizable, since today was a special day for him and Neo.

Today was the day Neo left the apartment with Roman for the first time.

In the time since she was rescued, Neo hadn't expressed any desire to leave Roman's apartment, but Roman thought, and Peach agreed, that it had to happen sometime. So, Roman had talked it over with Neo, who, as you'd imagine, was _incredibly_ nervous about leaving. Though, she trusted Roman, maybe more than she trusted her own judgement. "Are you ready Neo?" Roman asked. Neo looked between her feet, thinking. As she was doing this, Roman couldn't help but notice just how cute she looked when in actual clothes. Neo was dressed in a pink and brown skirt Peach had insisted on, it running down to her knees. On her feet were little pink shoes, almost slippers, as she had no socks on. For her top Neo was wearing a simple white shirt with a pink collar, flipped down at the moment. For today, Peach had actually insisted on styling her hair into two pigtails, each held up by pink and white bows for left and right respectively.

All in all, Roman had to agree with Peach, she looked _adorable_. "Well? Are you ready?" Roman asked, again, offering her a small smile. She looked up, smiling, and nodded. Without another word Roman opened the door, the two of them walking down the hallway. "She's… quite different from a few months back isn't she?" Roman heard a familiar voice ask. He turned, nodding to Junior as Neo smiled at him, waving as her left eye flashed white. Junior waved back, that same, nostalgic smile that he almost always had when he looked at Neo on his face. "Yeah… strange how much can change in just a month huh?" Roman said. Junior shrugged, "To be fair, it's been two. But yeah, I know what you mean. You be good for Roman huh Neo? And Roman, be good for her too." Junior said before walking off, heading down to run his bar.

The two walked down the stairs in near complete silence before they finally came out of the rear exit to the club, in the parking lot. Neo was looking around, rather nervous, as Roman just tapped his cane on the ground, looking around with a bored expression. " _Where is she?_ " he thought. Since Roman didn't have a car (or driver's license) of his own, he'd asked Peach to drive him and Neo to the park for a while. Being as it was a Sunday, he didn't expect many people. People spotting him and bearing witness to Neo was _not_ something Roman had on his agenda. He especially didn't want someone telling those Tough Guy gang members about it.

It was only a minute later when Peach pulled up, stepping out of the car. Today, since she didn't have to work, she was dressed in a pair of jeans and a bright red shirt, no words actually on it. She smiled over at Neo, "Don't you look cute this morning?" she said in a somewhat babyish tone. Neo's cheeks suddenly resembled part of her hair as she looked off to the left, a small smile on her face. "Time to go Neo." Roman said, smiling down as he grabbed her hand, the tiny thing being swallowed by his normal sized one. He lead her across the small distance to the car before opening the door for her, letting Neo scramble in before slamming it shut. He walked around the back of the car, getting into the passenger seat before looking back at Neo.

Neo had quickly moved to the middle, closing her legs and slightly swinging them (they didn't actually touch the carpet in Peach's car) as she buckled her seatbelt. The entire time she had a small smile on her face, a light humming coming from her, the only thing she could do with her vocal cords without intense pain. "Ready?" Roman asked. Neo nodded in response, looking towards Peach. Peach smiled back, setting her car in drive and easing out of the parking lot, heading down the street towards the park. "So… what's the plan Roman?" Peach asked, looking over at her ex. Roman shrugged, "Well, we'll be heading to the park for a few hours to start with, maybe head to a cafe or something later for lunch, and then… well, we'll go from there." he said. Peach nodded, pushing the gas pedal a little lower as the needle went past fifty.

After a maybe five minute drive, the trio arrived at the city park. It was actually pretty decent sized, and located towards the edge of Vale, just a short walk away from the docks in fact. The park was woods with a large playground area in the center, clearly made for children like Neo. Well, maybe not _exactly_ like Neo, but you get the point. As Peach pulled into the parking lot, Roman looked back at Neo, seeing her still swinging her little legs over the carpet. Even for a six year old, she was _tiny_. Roman got out of the car as Peach parked, Neo sitting patiently in the center, in no hurry to leave. Peach and Roman both opened their doors, and Neo, naturally, moved towards Roman. " _Why's she always choose him?_ " Peach thought as she shut the door she'd opened. In her limited experiences with Roman, she'd found he was never good with young kids, while they always flocked to her.

With Neo, it was the exact _opposite_.

Neo seemed almost afraid of Peach, always scooting as far away from her as she could, hesitating when she had to get close, and often being less receptive to her methods of teaching. She just couldn't wrap her head around it. Why did Neo not trust her as much as Roman? To Neo, the answer was obvious, it was her voice, or more specifically, her _tone_ of voice. Peach always spoke to Neo in what she found to be a high pitched and even somewhat belittling tone of voice. It made Neo think that she was less than Roman, than Peach, than Junior.

Neo didn't like that. Not one bit.

Roman had saved her life, so that was something there, but even then, he never talked down to her, or did anything like what Peach did. Even Junior, who acted more caring towards her, never used that babyish tone of voice with her. The two men treated her almost like an equal, to an extent at least. They spoke straight with her, they didn't lie, and they at least _tried_ to figure out what she was saying. Peach, on the other hand, just asked Roman what it was Neo wanted, and even then spent more time arguing with him than getting Neo what she wanted. It took her twelve minutes to get a glass of water. A GLASS, of WATER. By the time they'd finished arguing, Neo had gotten her water, drank it, and then was back in bed, the empty glass nearby. Of course, Peach showing a clear distaste for the man that had saved Neo's life didn't help either.

Roman shut his door when Neo was out, holding out his hand to her. Neo gladly took it, as she had no idea where she was going, letting herself be lead towards the sidewalk, the two adults and one child walking towards the playground in a line, blocking the sidewalk. Though, as she usually did, Peach lagged behind a bit. Roman lead the pack, turning in and making a straight shot to the playground. When Neo laid her eyes on it, she immediately tilted her head in confusion. Neo, being from the streets, didn't really know what any of the stuff was. So, she did what she always did when faced with an unknown object. Relied on Roman to tell her what it was.

She gently tugged on his sleeve with her other hand, getting his attention. Roman slowed down a bit, looking down at Neo. "What is it Neo?" he asked. She pointed to the large metal amalgamation in front of her (jungle gym). "You want to go to that first?" Roman asked. Neo shook her head, tilting it over to the left and holding up her other hand, palm upwards, in a gesture that said, 'What is it?'. Roman seemed to catch on, "Do you wanna know what this stuff is before you get on it?" he asked. Neo smiled, happily nodding. Roman smiled back pointing at the jungle gym again. "That's called a jungle gym, it's where you climb. You might want to stay away from that while you're in a skirt." he said. Neo nodded, pointing off towards the swing set. "That's the swings, it's… maybe it'd be better if I just showed you with that one." he said, turning towards it.

After a quick walk through the mulch (which was really just recycled tires) they came to the swings. "Alright Neo, you wanna ride this?" Roman asked. Neo slowly nodded, still uncertain what the 'swings' did. Roman nodded, reaching down and grabbing her by the waist, lifting her up and sitting her in the baby swing nearby, as she was small enough she fit in it. Roman latched it on, making sure it was secure, before he moved behind her. "Alright, now hold onto the chains." Roman said. Neo nodded, Peach having taught her what chains were a few days prior during one of her many lessons. Neo grabbed on, surprised at the initial cold shock. Seeing she was ready, Roman started swinging her, slowly at first, but gradually picking up speed. Once Roman was pushing her up enough, Neo started smiling and, had her throat not been as sore as it was, probably would've been laughing. There was just something… exhilarating, about flying so high up.

After a few minutes Roman stopped, walking out in front of her. "So? You like the swings?" he asked with a smile. Neo quickly nodded, revealing both her eyes to be pale pink. Roman chuckled as he pulled her out of the swing, moving his left arm beneath her knees, his right behind her back, "So, where next?" he asked, looking at the playground. Neo rubbed her chin for a few seconds before pointing off towards the slide nearby, at the bottom of which, was a sandbox. Roman nodded, walking over towards it. Rather than allowing Neo to climb the full ladder, Roman simply held her near the top rungs, allowing her to just step on. "Just watch where you land alright? Me and Peach'll be watching from over there." he said, point towards a nearby bench. Neo nodded, climbing up the rest of the way before plopping down on top of the slide. She grabbed the edge, shutting her eyes for a moment as she slid down.

Though, she hadn't expected the landing to be so soft.

She opened her eyes, pulling back and looking down to see _why_ the landing had been softer than she expected. She had kept going down the slide, rather than running off like she was supposed to, and had knocked over someone, landing on top of them. It was a young girl, maybe two years younger than Neo, though, about the same height. She had chocolate brown eyes, matching her hair, and, her most notable and strange feature, two short, rabbit ears sticking out of her head. Neo, having had only the vaguest upbringing, found a name for the people with ears, 'Faunus'. The girl looked at Neo. Neo looked at the girl. They sat like this for a few seconds before the girl spoke up, her voice having a slight accent to it, the origin of which, Neo wasn't sure. "Umm, can you please move?" she said, her voice quiet, as if trying to draw attention away from herself.

Neo stood, brushing off her skirt before offering a hand to the girl. The girl took it, standing up, though wobbling slightly, and looking back at Neo. "Umm, sorry. I'll get out of your way…" she said, about to walk away, just before Neo grabbed her hand. The girl looked up, surprised. Neo reached into her pocket, pulling out her notepad and pen, writing down the word NEO. She flipped it, pointing to the pad, then herself. Then, she held out a hand, as if to say, "This is my name, what's yours?" The girl looked at Neo for a moment, then it seemed to click. "OH! You want to know my name?" she said, almost like a question. Neo nodded, smiling at the girl as her eyes both turned pale pink again. The girl looked off to the left, "Well, uh, my name's Velvet." the newly named Velvet said, her ears curling slightly.

Neo reached a hand towards her ears, lightly rubbing the left one. This immediately caused Velvet to flinch back, patting down her ears, squishing them into her hair as she crouched down, nearly sitting in the sand. Her eyes were screwed shut and her face marked with a bit of blush. "P-Please don't touch my ears…" she said quietly. Neo looked on, and felt a pang of guilt. She flipped the page on her pad over, writing down the word 'SORRY' on the back of the note, right behind the word NEO. She held it closer to the girl, lightly tapping her forehead to get her attention. The girl opened her eyes, moving her hands and standing as she tilted her head, looking at the message. "Oh… it's okay. I… wow…" she said, seemingly stupefied by the concept of someone apologizing to her.

Neo tilted her head as well, giving the girl a quizzical expression as her left eye turned white. "Oh, umm, sorry. It's just… no one's ever apologized to me before for touching my ears. You must think I'm weird right?" she said, frowning at Neo. Neo flipped the pad over again, scrawling out her response and showing it to Velvet. Her response caused Velvet's eyes to widen, "You… you don't? But I'm, you know, not normal." she said, looking down and lightly kicking at the sand. Neo placed a hand on her shoulder, smiling at her and shutting her eyes. "You're okay with that?" Velvet said. Neo smiled, grabbing at the roots of her hair, making the white, brown, and pink strands known before dropping them, shrugging as if to say "Hey, I'm not normal either."

Velvet sprouted a small smile, "Well, I guess it's nice to meet you Neo. Do you, uh, wanna do anything?" she asked. Neo looked at Velvet, which was easier now that she wasn't hunched over or beneath her. Her hair was loose, unlike Neo's, and she had a cute little flower resting in between her ears, colored bright orange with a yellow gem (which was likely plastic) in the middle. She was wearing a brown skirt with a bit of orange towards the bottom, and had two gold shoes with little bows on them, tiny carrots just visible to Neo's wandering eyes. Her shirt was a similar brown to her skirt, if a bit lighter, and had a carrot emblazoned onto the front. Her legs were pressed close together, and, despite seemingly becoming slightly more comfortable with Neo, she was still a bit hunched over, seemingly hugging herself and trying to make herself smaller.

Neo looked down, seeing that the two of them were standing in the sandbox. She pointed down, looking up at Velvet for approval. "You want to play in the sandbox?" she asked. Neo nodded, already reaching down and grabbing a red shovel and pail that someone had left. Velvet smiled again, nodding. "Okay then!" the two of them leaned down, both on their knees and not really caring about their skirts, Velvet grabbing an orange pail and shovel. Neo started shoveling the sand into her pail, Velvet following suit for a few moments. When they had filled their pails to the brim, they both looked at one another, seeming to come to a silent consensus as they both dumped the sand between them. Neo reached in first, letting the sand run through her hands as she smiled, feeling the warm sand heating her up a bit. Velvet tried to do the same, "AH!" but quickly moved her hands back, not able to handle the heat of the baking sand. Neo just silently giggled at this.

After another view minutes of playing in the sand, Neo stood up, brushing off her knees and offering a hand to Velvet. She accepted, staggering a bit as she stood. Neo held up both hands, as if to say, "What now?" Velvet looked around, smiling as she pointed towards something behind the slide, hidden from Neo's view. "How about we try and catch some butterflies in the greenhouse?" she said. Now Neo, having no idea what a greenhouse was, simply walked over, following Velvet's finger. She saw a large, glass building off to the side, partially hidden from the playgrounds view by the trees. Neo looked at Velvet, skeptical, but nodded anyway. She figured she'd picked the first thing, she should let Velvet pick the next one.

Velvet smiled as she started walking towards it, trudging out of the sand before she frowned. "Ah, my shoes are full of sand. Are yours to?" she said, looking back at Neo. Neo frowned as she moved her feet around, feeling the sand scratching against them. Neo simply removed her shoes, laying them next to the sandbox. "You just want to leave them here?" Velvet said. Neo nodded, motioning towards the sandbox, asking Velvet to do the same. Velvet was a little more hesitant, but complied, gingerly stepping onto the rubber mulch. Neo looked down, wiggling her toes as she felt the mulch between them. Velvet did the same for a moment, before grabbing Neo's hand and leading her towards the greenhouse.

Once they got inside, Neo's eyes widened at the large diversity of flowers and butterflies, them lazily flapping their wings through the air and lazily landing on flowers. Velvet walked over to the left, picking up two butterfly nets, one pink, and one orange. Neo, naturally, took the pink one when Velvet offered. Velvet held up a hand, "Let's see who can catch the prettiest butterfly!" she said. Neo looked at Velvet, seeing a large butterfly suddenly land between her ears, seemingly trying to determine if the flower on Velvet's head was real. Neo responded, draping the see through net around Velvet's head. Velvet blushed slightly as she looked at Neo, "Umm, I appreciate the compliment Neo but, I'm not a butterfly…" she said. Neo was about to speak when she saw the butterfly flap down, landing on Velvet's little nose, flapping it's wings as Velvet went cross eyed to see it. "Oh, hi there mister butterfly." Velvet said, her lips twisting up in a smile.

As soon as Neo moved the net, the butterfly flew off towards its brethren, rejoining the race to land on flowers, for reasons Neo and Velvet were both too young to understand. The two smiled at one another, rushing in, nets seemingly ablaze, as they started catching butterflies left and right. They went at this for a while, maybe five minutes, until Velvet's net thumped against something, trapping her butterflies inside. "Oops, sorry mister." she said, looking up to see a tall, looming figure. It's mouth twisted in disgust as it pushed Velvet aside, Velvet catching herself just in time to avoid a nasty faceplant into the rose bushes. "Zip it freak, I'm here for the whitey." it said, a deep, gruff voice. Neo turned around when she sensed the presence, and immediately her blood ran cold. That voice, the physique, the tattoo. She may not have remembered much, but she recognized a Tough Guy when she saw one.

He immediately smirked as he leaned down, pulling out a jug that Neo could read this time. It said 'Bleach' on it. "Remember me? The guy who whited you out the first time?" he said, smirking at the girl to reveal one, golden tooth. Neo responded by smashing the bottom of the net into his nose, trying to dash around him. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough, and while the man held his nose with one hand, he grabbed her with the other, slamming her against the glass, causing small cracks to form in it. "BITCH! You've gotten wise, time to knock it out of ya!" he yelled, rearing back a fist. "OW!" he yelled as he let go of Neo, Velvet's little teeth sinking into the man's hand for a second before she let go, grabbing Neo's hand. "RUN NEO! RUUUUUUN!" Velvet yelled, smashing out of the glass as Neo followed. When the man looked up, he only saw Velvet and Neo shaped holes in the glass. He growled, "I'll catch those little runts…" he muttered as he opened the door, dashing in their general direction as he got out a walkie-talkie, ready to call in backup.

Meanwhile, Neo and Velvet ran like hell was after them. And, to Neo, it was. Velvet just thought it was some creep, but Neo knew the truth, she _knew_ what the Tough Guys were capable of. So she ran, keeping up with Velvet as they ran towards the docks, the sound of heavy footsteps gaining on them soon enough, one pair joined by another, and another, until eventually it seemed like a whole stampede was behind them. Neo turned a quick right, dragging Velvet with her as she looked around, smiling as she saw a building. She shouldered her way in, dragging Velvet into the wall with her as she grabbed at her throat, trying to ease the pain of her labored breathing. "Where'd they go?" she heard a voice say from outside. "They can't have gone far, check the buildings!" another said.

Neo looked around the building they were in, finding it had only two occupants. One of them was behind a counter, many assorted bottles on the shelf as he gave the girls a questioning glance. "Sorry, we don't serve minors here…" he said, trying to wrap his head around why two little girls just walked into his bar. The other figure didn't respond, continuing to down his glass of… whatever it was. Neo's eyes widened as she pulled Velvet forwards, towards the two men as about five men burst down the doors. "There they are!" someone yelled. The figure that was sitting down just turned, hazy eyes glancing at the five men that were there, his drink held casually in his hand. "Seems you two are pretty popular…" the man said, his voice deep and a bit gravelly, the voice of an old patron.

BANG!

The man looked down, his mind registering the shatter glass in his hand, ice cubes falling to the floor. "Don't get involved old man!" one of the Tough Guys said. The man seemed to sober up, gritting his teeth and glaring at the men, his red eyes seeming to flash as he cracked his neck. "Normally I wouldn't, but I better teach you a lesson first…" he said. The five rushed him, but he was too fast, punching one of them in the face and redirecting another, slamming him through a table. One swung at him with a crowbar, but he caught it effortlessly, slamming his head into the other man's as he fell unconscious. He glared at the other two, both with guns. The two fired, but the man just reached behind his back, pulling a large, segmented blade and blocking the shots, one of them hitting a nearby picture, the other nearly hitting the figures ally. The figures turned to one another, "He's a huntsman! RUN!" he yelled to the other, both dashing away as fast as Neo and Velvet had ran from them.

The man stood back straight, sheathing his weapon as he turned to the two young girls, both of them staring at him in awe. He walked over, pulling up a seat next to them, "So… what's your story?" he asked. Velvet spoke, "This creep came up to us in the greenhouse at the park nearby, so we ran, then those guys started following." she said, pointing at the unconscious thugs. He looked back, "So these guys all went after you… why?" he said, looking back at the girls. Velvet shrugged, "I don't know?" she said as she put her hands down. He looked at Neo, "Who's your quiet friend?" he asked. Velvet looked down, suddenly bashful, the adrenaline rush having worn off as reality kicked back in, "Umm, we aren't really friends, I mean, I _want_ us to be but, we just met. Anyway, I'm Velvet, this is Neo." she said, pointing to the silent girl.

The man shrugged, "Alright, got any last names?" he said. Velvet nodded, "My last name's Scarlatina, and hers is… umm, what's your last name?" she asked her older friend. Neo pulled out her notepad, writing the word TORCHWICK on it and showing it to the two. The man nodded, something about that name clicked with him, but he was either too tired or too drunk to remember. "What about you?" Velvet asked. The man smiled, "Name's Qrow Branwen." he said simply. Velvet smiled at him, "Well, thanks Mister Qrow!" she said. Neo walked over, hugging the man around his waist, being as she couldn't verbally thank him. Velvet joined in a moment later, smiling up at him. Qrow smiled, wrapping his arms around the two, "Hehe, it was nothin' kids." he said. All the while, he was thinking one thing.

" _Guess this bad luck charm was good luck for these two."_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Instincts

 **A/n- yeah, this one's a little short, consider this a nice bit of filler/exposition (like most of the other parts so far actually)**

With Qrow's semblance always a factor into his daily life, whether it be accidentally making someone trip, knock over a glass, fall off a building (yes that actually happened once), and just in general have a bad day, it was always hard to be around people, so having a family? Damn near out of the question. Though, looking down at the two little girls, both clinging onto his arms in appreciation, Qrow couldn't help but wonder what might have been. If only had hadn't discovered his semblance, hadn't been raised by bandits. The two girls, Neo and Velvet, both looked up at him, smiling. "Well, uh, we should probably be getting back to the park now. My parents will be worried." Velvet said, suddenly getting a worried expression on her face. Neo's eyes flashed brown as she nodded, seemingly saying, 'Mine too.'

Qrow stood, stretching as he tossed a card of lien at the man behind the counter, just enough to pay for his drinks. "Keep the change." he said casually before walking towards the door, the two girls noiselessly following him out past the two unconscious thugs. Qrow shielded his eyes as he walked outside, " _God I hate sunlight after drinks. Hurts like hell._ " he thought as he looked out at the streets. There wasn't anyone nearby, no sign of the tough guys Neo and Velvet had ran from. He looked back at the two, "You said the park right bunny girl?" he asked, looking back over his shoulder. Velvet blushed, but nodded, "Yeah. It's that way." she said, shyly pointing off the way they'd come. He nodded, walking forwards, the girls having to jog to keep up with him.

It was quiet for a little while, until a little voice spoke up, "Mister Qrow, can we stop for a minute? My feet hurt." Velvet said, pouting towards the man as he looked over his shoulder. He sighed, "Fine, we'll stop here." he said, walking over to a conveniently placed bench. He sat down, Neo scrambling up on his right side as Velvet did on his left, both of them waving their feet with looks of concentration on their faces as they tried to get on the seemingly tall bench. "Oh for the love of…" Qrow muttered as he reached down, picking up the two girls as if they were only baby's, setting them next to him. The two girls leaned back on the bench, both of their heels resting on the edge of the bench as they smiled in content. After a moment Velvet pulled back her feet, sitting cross-legged as she lightly rubbed her feet, trying to sooth the aching pain she felt. "Tryin' to get lucky little freak?" a voice said.

Velvet's ears went rigid as she looked up, her eyes widening as she saw a car parked right next to the bench, stopped in the road with the engine running. The men were pale white, and clearly needed to get more sun, both with sunglasses and what looked almost like blazers, a plastic cup in one of their hands. Velvet looked down, blushing as she stopped rubbing her feet. "Aww, she's gone all shy." one of them said. The other smirked, "Maybe it's the heat, hold on, I can help."

SPLASH!

Velvet looked up, blinking, her entire face caked in some kind of white substance. She felt her lip quivering as she looked down, seeing it getting on her new shirt too. "ALRIGHT GET OVER HERE!" Qrow yelled, drawing his sword and dashing at the two men. The two were quick to panic, driving off as Qrow started yelling some choice words of his at them, the sound of their engine thankfully saving Neo and Velvet's virgin ears from hearing them. Meanwhile, Velvet just kept her eyes shut, trying to keep the substance from getting in them. Neo leaned over, placing a finger on Velvet's cheek and wiping away some of it, licking her finger. Vanilla. "*sniff*, my… shirt..." Velvet looked down, tears welling up in her eyes as she saw her outfit stained by the offending beverage. Velvet was a second away from bursting into tears when she felt a light pressure on her face, her involuntarily shutting her eyes as it moved around.

"Just hold still…" Qrow said, wiping away at the vanilla milkshake with the napkins he'd 'borrowed' from a nearby cafe. A few seconds later Velvet had been cleaned up, though, her shirt now had a large stain on the front. Velvet sniffled, a few tears running down her face. " _Why me? What did I even do?_ " she thought. Suddenly, she felt a pressure on her side, pulling her over. She looked over, seeing Neo hugging her, trying to comfort the saddened faunus. Velvet didn't question it, wrapping her arms around Neo and just crying, letting out the tears she was trying to keep in not moments ago. Neo shut her eyes as she lightly pat her back with on hand, her other lightly rubbing the space in between Velvet's ears. "Shh…" Neo said, quiet enough that it didn't hurt her throat worse than breathing, but loud enough Velvet could hear it.

Qrow just watched from the sidelines, slightly confused. " _Uh, what's the adult supposed to do in this situation? God where's Raven when I need her… oh, right._ " he thought, suddenly remembering where his sister was spending her days now. Hundreds of miles away. Before he could think much deeper on this, he heard Velvet speaking. "Thank's Neo." she said, leaning back and smiling at Neo, a single tear running down her face. Neo leaned in, her lips lightly nudging against Velvet's cheek in what had to be the most innocent kiss Qrow had ever seen, wiping away the tear that was falling. Velvet, who understood a bit more of what that meant than Neo, felt her face turn bright red, and she had no doubt some of it might have even gone off her face into the background if that was possible.

" _Man I wish I had a camera right now._ " Qrow thought, smiling at the two children. Neo jumped up, standing on the bench, though, it seemed Qrow's semblance was up to it's old tricks, causing the bench to break under Neo's (albeit light) weight. Velvet gasped as she reached down, "Oh my gosh! Are you okay!?" she asked, her face showing her concern. Neo, on the other hand, just held up her thumb from beneath her bench, showing she was alright. "Alright, you two ready to keep going?" Qrow asked. As fun as it was to watch the two's interactions, their parents were probably worried sick by now. Velvet jumped off, Neo rolling out from under the bench, standing up and brushing off her skirt before she walked over, grabbing onto Qrow's right hand. Velvet took the hand, grabbing onto his left as the man sighed. "Can't go anywhere with you two huh?" he muttered. He started walking, the two girls silently following next to him. Though, after a while, Neo seemed to be tired of walking, and just jumped up, latching onto his arm and just riding it. Velvet saw, and did the same, smiling over at her new friend, a smile that was quickly returned.

Meanwhile, Roman Torchwick stood, "What're you doing Roman?" Peach asked, looking around for any reason Roman would have gotten up. Roman looked toward the sandbox, "It's been twenty minutes, and Neo hasn't come back for her shoes, I'm getting worried." he said. Peach stood, "Maybe she's having too much fun with her new friend to care?" she suggested. Roman shook his head, walking through the mulch and heading for the discarded pink shoes. "I don't think so." he said as he leaned down, seeing the clean pink shoes, as well as the slightly sandy gold one's belonging to the rabbit faunus Neo was playing with. He looked around, seeing something he hadn't noticed before, a greenhouse. He also saw two people walking towards it. One of them was a short woman with rabbit ears, the other, a tall man without them. He started walking towards them, Peach following behind him. "You think they went over here?" Peach asked. Roman simply nodded, striding up to the taller man and shorter woman.

"Pardon me, but have you two seen a little girl? About yay tall, yay wide, bright pink, white, and brown hair. Talks with a notepad… know anyone like that?" he asked, looking towards the man and gesturing with his hands for the 'yay' bits. The man just shrugged, but the woman was far, _far_ more vocal. "So it was your daughter with my baby! Did you see her!? Ears like mine, but, you know, shorter, brown hair, adorable, carrot on her shirt, did you see her!?" she asked, walking over to Roman and shaking him by his shoulders as she spoke. The man put his hand on, assumingly, his wife's shoulder and shook his head. She took a breath, breathing out. "You're right honey. I should just calm down." she said. It was at this point that Peach noticed the woman was trembling, not like she was nervous, but that she just couldn't stand still. " _Anxiety maybe? Hmm, hard to tell._ " she thought.

"So your daughter was the one with Neo huh? Well, I don't know. There shoes are still there, I think they went in… here." Roman said, opening the door as he noticed the other side of the wall, containing the obvious Neo and Velvet shaped holes, a few drops of blood on the ground from the tough guy's nearly broken nose. Neo's net was nearby, laid casually on the ground. The woman and Peach both covered their mouths in shock as Roman and the man's eyes widened. Everyone's eyes looked between each other, before the woman and Roman both shouted out, likely as loud as they could.

" **WHO TOOK MY DAUGHTER!?** "

Qrow suddenly stumbled, Velvet climbing up and sitting her legs over his shoulders, her ears twitching as she looked in the direction of the park. "You heard that right?" she asked. Qrow frowned, "Uh, no." he said simply. Velvet smiled down at Qrow, "Come on! I think my parents are at the park, we have to hurry!" she said. Qrow rolled his eyes, but kept a light smile as he moved his hands around, cradling Neo in his arms as Velvet wrapped her arms around his neck, falling back down over his back. Velvet had to shut her eyes as Qrow started sprinting, the wind howling past as the three suddenly became a blur, aiming for the park. Velvet opened her eyes, only to see her parents standing only a few feet away.

Roman didn't know what the heck had happened. One second, he was looking around wildly for Neo, then, all the sudden, there was a little girl in his arms. She was about the same height as Neo, but once Roman got a better look at her, he noticed it was the girl Neo was playing with, the lack of shoes fortifying that fact. When she opened her eyes, she glanced at Roman in confusion. "Umm, hi?" she said, almost confused. He looked up, his eyes widening as he saw Neo in the taller man's arms, both of them looking at one another in a similar way Roman was looking at the girl in his arms. Though, neither of them talked, so it was a bit more awkward. Roman and the man's eyes met for a second before, without a word, they exchanged children, Neo in his arms and the faunus girl in the taller man's arms.

Neo smiled as she wrapped her arms around Roman's neck, leaning in as she felt his warm embrace calming her, the same way it normally did. She looked up, smiling as she saw a crow fly onto the roof of the slide nearby. " _Thanks._ " she thought, hoping to convey a message with her eyes. The crow, who was fairly confident was 'Qrow', seemed to understand, and nodded, giving her as close to a smile as was possible for a bird. Just after that though, the moment Roman looked over to see what Neo was looking it, at just flew away. Neo turned around, smiling over at Velvet as her mother wrapped her in what looked like a bone crushing hug, swaying her left and right. "Oh my poor baby! What happened!? How did you end up like this, and more importantly, how did you get here?!" she asked, looking down at her child in worry.

Velvet started telling them everything that happened, including the bit with Qrow, though, where he went, she didn't say. Mostly since she didn't actually know, she hadn't seen the crow as Neo had. Her mother seemed to take it as 'such an active imagination', like most would. Peach and Velvet's father seemed to be the same way. Roman, on the other hand, had another suspicion. " _So, Qrow saved them huh? Guess he wasn't as drunk as usual._ " he thought. He'd of course heard of the nearly legend status 'team STRQ' at this point. A lot of people in Vale did, after they took down a crime boss that rivaled Junior, one Roman had worked for at one point.

"Oh! We should have a playdate Neo!" Velvet said, smiling at said girl. Neo tilted her head, giving Velvet a confused look. Velvet couldn't help but giggle, "You know, you come over and play! We have some fun and stuff! Or I come over with you!" she said. Neo, knowing somewhat how Roman was, had a feeling he'd refuse. "I think it's a good idea." so she was surprised when _that_ came out of his mouth. She looked up at Roman in surprised, at that rate, so did Peach. "Well, how about this weekend? Me and Marron are actually heading out of town for a while. Her aunt will be watching her, so maybe she can stay over one of those days." Velvet's mother said, smiling at Roman. Roman nodded, "That sounds great. Or maybe Neo can stay over at your place. Not sure which yet." he said. The man nodded, smiling the same smile as his wife. Speaking of, his wife spoke. "Well, we'll see you soon then mister?" she said, clearly not knowing the man's name.

"Torchwick. My name's Roman Torchwick." he said casually. The woman nodded, "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you Mister and Misses Torchwick. You too Neo. See you later!" she said, turning around as the three of them started walking away, unaware of the growing blush on Peach's face. "Bye Neo!" Velvet said, smiling as she waved over her dad's shoulder. Neo waved back, smiling at Velvet as the three Scarlatina's walked away. "Weird she didn't say bye to you Velvy." Velvet's mother said when they were out of earshot. Velvet shook her head, "No, it's not weird. Neo can't talk." she said. Her mother nearly stopped in her tracks when she heard this. "What was that sweetie?" she asked. Velvet just repeated what she said. "Sweetie what do you mean?" she asked. Velvet pouted, "I mean she can't talk! That's it! She just writes on her little paper-thingy!" she said. Velvet's mother smiled at this, almost as much as she had during the Qrow story.

" _I wonder how that play date's gonna work out?_ "


End file.
